ANNOUNCEMENT: HEALTHY FAMILY EXPO 2020 POSTPONED

March 12th, 2020

It is with heavy hearts that Healthy Family Media is announcing the postponement of Healthy Family Expo 2020.

Our dedicated team has been hard at work for the past year to create another exceptional event. The 2020 Expo has our largest number of exhibitors ever and exciting attractions including PAW Patrol, Daniel Tiger, our huge Active Kid Zone, a stellar stage lineup and endless food & drink sampling that all make our Expo so popular with Lower Mainland families.

With the ongoing news coverage about the coronavirus over the past few weeks, we have been working with our colleagues at the Vancouver Convention Centre and Vancouver Coastal Health to address our concerns about the health & safety of Expo attendees, exhibitors and staff. In our daily communications with Vancouver Coastal Health over the past few weeks, they have repeatedly assured us that the current COVID-19 threat to BC residents remains low. As such, they are still not advising the cancellation of any large-scale events like the Healthy Family Expo, and have been working with us on extra precautionary measures we can take to support and enhance the Vancouver Convention Centre’s high standards of cleanliness and protect the health & wellbeing of everyone involved in the Expo. Up until yesterday, the vast majority of our exhibitors, sponsors, and public ticket holders were supportive of Healthy Family Expo 2020 continuing in this way.

As of today, however, we cannot in good conscious continue with this plan.

We now face a World Health Organization declaration that COVID-19 has reached a level of global pandemic, a blanket prohibition on events involving over 250 people in our neighbouring state of Washington, major North American sports leagues making significant alterations, many of our exhibitors facing company-mandated travel or event participation restrictions, and the exponentially growing concern of Metro Vancouver parents (including ourselves) about attending large events.

We had been hoping to proceed with the Expo as planned, but it is clear that it is now critical for us as responsible event producers and parents to take proactive measures as a community to do our part to slow down the transmission of the coronavirus in Vancouver and worldwide. This is especially so in light of our inability to maintain the recent “social distancing” recommendations of government health officials at an event like ours with so many families and children.

We are deeply saddened but confident in our decision to postpone Healthy Family Expo 2020.

This is not a decision we have made lightly.

There are many moving parts to an event like ours and in the coming days and weeks we will be working through the logistics of next steps to navigate these most unusual circumstances with sponsors, exhibitors, ticket holders, and other stakeholders.

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About Healthy Family Expo

Healthy Family Media Inc. produces the annual Healthy Family Expo at the Vancouver Convention Centre – Canada’s Largest Food & Health Event for Families, and also publishes HealthyFamilyLiving.com – an online resource for Vancouver parents struggling to balance busy lives with making healthier choices. We give local families simple steps to healthier, more active, sustainable living!